Simple Graduation Gift Ideas

When we heard the brilliant news that my nephew, Stephen, had graduated from college our thoughts soon turned to buying an exciting graduation gift for him. Stephen has been a big part of our lives as he grew up in our neighborhood. His smiling face and big personality endear him to everyone, especially to me. I knew he would do well. I have loved to see how hard he has worked at school and college. He has achieved his dream and graduated from college. Since I have been so close to him I decided to buy him a rather special graduation gift. I am not quite as decisive as I should be when buying gifts so I struggled to choose Stephen’s gift.

The first thing that concerned me was how much to spend. I don’t have any real budget concerns, however I did want to buy appropriately. My wish was to buy a gift he would keep for life. Initially I felt $200 would be a good budget. I spoke to his mother and she told me they were spending $5000 on a vacation for him. I thought more about my budget and changed it to $1000.

The budget being set did not magically produce a list of graduation gift ideas. The next thing to do was to list Stephen’s likes, passions, hobbies and also what he may need for his new career as a Physical Education teacher. I did think any clothing and equipment he may need would come with the job. Stephen’s passion is basketball. He would play basketball 24 hours a day, he would travel through the night to watch his professional team and he collects huge amounts of memorabilia. How also loves the rock band U2, he loves to be very well dressed when he goes out, he watches sport on TV and he just loves Julie. One important point was the apartment he had rented close to his new job.

Once I had thought about what the budget may buy, what his interests are and what his parents were buying him I came up with a list of graduation gift ideas. The list of gifts he would love included tickets, flights and accommodation to see his favorite basketball team play in another city. He would also have loved team memorabilia, clothing, tickets for a U2 concert, a gift certificate for his favorite clothing store, a TV and an all expenses paid night out with Julie. His apartment had very little furniture, electric goods and decorations. More graduation gift ideas were a fridge, dishwasher, seating, washing machine, utensils, bedding and food. The vacation his parents had booked offered the chance to buy a suitcase and give him spending money.

My choice of gift was determined by the $1000 budget and the new apartment. I bought a rather excellent TV with a pre paid cable subscription. That gave him some furniture and hours of basketball. Looking back I am very glad to have given Stephen a gift he loved. If I had the chance to buy him a gift again I would have bought a sports watch which would have lasted him a lifetime. I just did not think of it at the time.

Graduation Gift Ideas
Simple graduation gift ideas.